Six More Freebies the Mayor Forgot to Mention

The mayor is releasing documents today intended to show his attendance at sports and entertainments events — 81 of them — without paying for tickets for himself and guests was part of his officials duties.

What’s not clear is whether he will also disclose the hundreds for free meals with expensive wines at luxury restaurants he’s taken in the past five years.

If you have spotted the mayor or know who paid for his pleasures, email bruno.la.watchdog@gmail.com.

Here’s a report today by Eric Longabardi of the Enterprise Report:who found six more previously unreported events the mayor attended and this photo of the mayor at a Lakers-76ers game on March 17, 2009.:t

THE PERKS OF BEING LOS ANGELES MAYOR ANTONIO
VILLARAIGOSA: THE TICKET CONNECTION; HOW MANY AND HOW MUCH?

By Eric Longabardi, Enterprise Report

Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said yesterday that today his
office will release what it is says is all the information it has about
just how many events the Mayor attended without having to pay for his
tickets since he was elected Mayor in 2005.

The Enterprise Report has uncovered additional events, not
previously disclosed, in which the Mayor was present and attended, based
on a review of publicly available photographic evidence.

The
mayor’s office so far has released a list of 80 events in which it
claims the Mayor received free tickets to an event. The records are
sparse and the documentation to determine exactly how many events the
Mayor attended and exactly the number of tickets that were provided and
their value is far from complete.

LA’s Mayor has been involved in a local media
tempest since late last month when it was first
reported by local Fox TV reporter Johm Schwada that the Mayor had
failed to disclose the value of the tickets he was receiving as “gifts”
to attend LA Laker games. The Mayor has claimed that the tickets and
their value are not required to be disclosed because he was performing
“official duties” at the events.

The tickets range from Los Angeles Laker
courtside seats to L.A Dodger baseball games to the Academy Awards and
everything in between. The Mayor and his guests have been a regular
fixture at sporting events, concerts and other events around Los Angeles
since he took office. The Mayor’s ticket taking practices are
currently the focus of two different investigations.

12 Responses to Six More Freebies the Mayor Forgot to Mention

I don’t like this mayor and agree he’s an arrogant photo-hound (almost as bad as Bruno with a Bone), but this obsession with this one topic is getting a little unseemly. There are lots bigger issues, like involving public safety, why the council can’t find a way to make money on those red light cameras (the Arizona company they’ve been using takes some $350 of each ticket, we learned from their debate this week – and seems quite a few go to unregistered drivers). Even dingbat Janice Hahn said to look into the city setting up the cameras and keeping the revenue itself.
There’s the many scandals in the juvenile probation program, where youths are left free to fight each other for barbaric shows on YouTube, and how the adults in charge of them buy expensive stuff for their personal use and abuse them. Why don’t you care about siccing the DA on them?
There are many major enviornmental scofflaws who are never prosecuted and could well afford to throw some revenue our way. It’s not nothing to go after the officials in a town like Maywood or in neighbor Bell who it turns out, are paid a cool $100,000/ year for what’s a part-time job, when the DA’s office said the going rate should be #400/ month. Maywood fired all its own employees only to turn the job over to these high-paid neighbords, makes no sense unless there’s some connection of helping out some friends who have the jobs, maybe.
Have you bugged your pet pooch Trutanich about going after the illegal house conversions you keep writing about in your neighborhood and elsewhere? Those unglamorous things that are supposed to be his job, not trying to be the only city attorney in the country with a grand jury. Which by the way, the Association of California DA’s, came out strongly against. Reports on other blogs are he’s barking mad. Funny how his bizarre alliance with “one bill Gil” the guy who says its racist to deny Latinos who don’t have driver licenses or insurance the right to drive, has gotten derailed after they tried to sneak one through. Maybe to go after that Pesky Jan Perry, but if she’s up to no good let the DA’s office and Birotte’s new federal prosecutor offices, handle it. NOT someone with a personal bone to pick because she didn’t roll over for him. Kinda like Bruno and the mayor?
And by the way that guy isn’t Jack Weiss. Is the short bald guy behind the mayor Danny De Vito?

10:15– you bring up excellent points. But Villar is a significant part of the overall problem & needs to go. Also all these politicos got away with “free” stuff for a long time & it’s time this MUST STOP.

The council just passed a motion to join national groups in urging the release of the Israeli soldier Galit who’s being held by Hamas for 2 years without even being allowed visitations from the Red Cross. (after spending a hour this morning protesting international abuses from Salvador to Africa, lots of victims of violence. I think Perry was the sponsor – running for Mayor and needing PR, maybe?)
Both fine and worth motions nonetheless.
But it was hilarious to watch Rosendahl get up to speak on the Galit matter, babbling that it was “important to resolve the issues in the Middle East” because “this kind of negative energy in the world can’t be allowed to continue.” Guess that’s part of positioning himself as an expert on foreign affairs, toward running for Diane Feinstein’s Senate seat. Lord help us.

Anon @10:15, very good comments, but remember, the Feds got Al Capone on tax evasion…it seems that the Mayor may get recalled over this seemingly trivial ticketgate affair, while he escapes the voter wrath for far greater offenses (as you mentioned) and corruption.
If the way to destroy Cadiz and Ken Blackpool, the DWP, teacher’s union et.al lies in the small violations of gift receiving, then so be it.
I voted for this shmuck (the first time, Walter Moore the second) and I can’t believe how corrupt he has become.

Antonio`s attorney is playing with the spirit vs the letter of the law. Either way they loose. The public opinion has rendered the verdict, regardless what the DA or the Ethics Commission rule. GUILTY!

As for the issue of having red light cameras at all, even the conservative Police Political League in its daily email today links to an article in the Sacramento Bee that “tides are turning against” them. Because they may cause more accidents than they prevent by making drivers halt suddenly getting hit from the rear, being inaccurate and so on.
Only this city council can be dumb enough to install them and charge us sucker motorists $500 fines for them and still lose money as a city, and have to backtrack on their half-baked boycott of Arizona businesses in order to do it.

The Mayor`s attorney says, if Antonio violated the law by accepting tickets for his girlfriend, he will reimburse the donor (whose name he forgot…..).Tell that to the kid`s mother, who stole a bar of candy and went to jail for 15 yrs.

Seeing the corruption in City Hall, I’ll never convict any person for anything while on Jury Duty. The Mayor has set the standards for the citizens. If he is the ambassador for the city, then we should carry forth what we learned from him. It is ok to be a criminal. Just deny it.

Bruno, no wonder the mayor only spends 11% of his time on his day job…he’s too tired from all that nighttime carousing with his rich and powerful buddies.
Think about this, because his denial of knowing where all these tickets came from doesn’t make sense. Is he really too busy to keep track?
If he really didn’t keep track of the ‘donors’ of freebees, how will he know who to repay with insider paybacks and favors.
Even we dogs know who hands us our bones.
Your Pal,
G.